The modern EDM trend of "trap" is one of the worst things to ever happen to music. It's
almost entirely based on gimmicks and a focus on creating a "big" beat over anything of
actual substance.
It's actually pretty similar to brostep in that a lot of tracks that get focus (and even
praise) are just gimmicky and (literally) ameteur tracks that focus on dance-floor potential
and completely ignore putting real substance behind the output.
So if that was the whole story, I could easily ignore it as just another party trend, but the
fact is that a very few artists have shown that the genre has a ton of potential. But
unfortunately, almost no one seems to have picked up on their talent, and they exist as
completely unique artists in a sea of terrible monotony. Here they are:

This EP is, to me, the definitive trap release at this point. When it dropped, I had high hopes for future releases following in their
footsteps. But unfortunately, despite TNGHT being a huge name for almost anyone involved in the scene, most producers have been
content to completely ignore what TNGHT did here.
The huge, bassy kick drums and stuttering hi-hats of trap actually got some real, interesting melodic substance to flow over the top
of them that worked even better as a hook than the genre's framework. Instead of relying on the dance-floor appeal of the bassy
drumwork associated with trap that almost everyone else uses as a crutch, TNGHT made the genre something much more interesting
that could've thrived entirely on their interesting textural approch, but with the low-end backing of trap's formula, the EP became
something that could absolutely rip dance-floors in half, to a point that has really never been touched by anyone else.

So this is a full-length album, and it only truly has one trap song on it, "City Star". But as far as I'm concerned it's the best trap song
to date. Glass Swords on its own is an incredibly textured and layered album with a futuristic sound, and while "City Star" starts out
the same way, it drops most of the polished glam to focus entirely on the monstrous beat potential of the more aggressive textures
located on the rest of the album, and while the horns on TNGHT's "Higher Ground" provides strong competition for the most infectious
melodic aspect of any trap song, "City Star" trumps it with the unforgiving, hammering glimmer of Glass Swords' futuristic sheen.

It's a bit surprising to me that Rustie's follow-up to Glass Swords is an entirely trap-based release,
considering that Glass Swords was mostly something else.
Both tracks here are inarguably trap songs. But they're very different in overall style. Triadzz shares its
sound and is split halfway between the euphoric glow that he's known for, and an unfortunately traditional
trap sound. A lot of this sounds like Rustie's trademark sound, and that part is great. But when the track
drops into the trap section, it loses a bit of Rustie's otherwise unique sound. Yes, it does retain some
credibility for Rustie in that it's a much better sound because Rustie's signature wonky-ness still exists in
that segment of the track, but it suffers from the genre's pitfalls much more than previously released "City
Star" and the flip-side's "Slasher".
Speaking of "Slasherr", HOLY SHIT. If "City Star" worked as a different but functional track on Glass Swords
that had to separate itself from the ordinary sound provided on the album to fit the swagged-out stylings of
trap music, "Slasherr" would fit almost unbelievably naturally into the glossy packaging of Glass Swords,
despite still functioning as a trap song. It's about the only thing that can compete with "City Star" as a
track, and it falls very slightly short of pure dance-floor power, but wins for its great aesthetic.

Not really better than the EP in any way, but it actually shows a more textural approach to the appeal of trap
as a whole in a way that no one else has done or copied since (unfortunately). It's still just a huge track that
displays the fact that so much potential exists in the form of providing a unique melody to thrive over the
already unavoidably danceable sounds of trap's big bass beats.

Like Rustie's Glass Swords, this album has one track that falls into the trap category, and that's "Command".
It's a good track, but I honestly think Starkey holds a lot more potential in his wonky style to produce some
great trap music in the same way Rustie does. Still, "Command" is better than 99% of trap music out there.

Ignoring the amazing quality of this album as a whole, DB's spastic delivery fits perfectly over the stylings of Rustie's trap music, of
which he uses perfectly for tracks like "Dope Song" and "Break It (Go)". The tracks (especially "Dope Song") show potential as
instrumentals alone, but their functionality as backing for an MC's rapping is undeniably as well, which will almost definitely lead to
a lot of trap-backed beats in the near future. Speaking of trap-backed beats...

"Blood on the Leaves" uses a watered-down version of the previously unreleased TNGHT beat "R U Ready". It's in a way a great
showcase for the potential of trap music to work in modern hip-hop, but "R U Ready", in my opinion, held a lot more weight.

So the point of this list is to tell you where to go if you're looking for trap music of any substance at all. I haven't really found anything outside of this very narrow circle that's of any worth at all.

If you have any that, considering this list, you think I would enjoy, then feel free to send them my way. But if it's something by Baauer, RL Grime, Flosstradamus, etc., I will probably hate it.

You're kinda riding a fine line here between the implosion of instrumental electronic hip hop beats that attempt to emulate the kind of Lex Luger bombast, and the "real" trap of the actual hip hop nature.

At any rate, TNGHT wouldn't be what it is without: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvKAr9qaI1I

There is so much shit trap out there and so little of the good stuff it's quite aggravating. Because when it's done well that shit goes hard. I can jam hard. But yeah, like you said there isn't much beyond what's listed here that's good. Danny is really the only person that I've found that actually picks out some good trap beats.

"There is so much shit trap out there and so little of the good stuff it's quite aggravating. Because when it's done well that shit goes hard. I can jam hard."

This could sum up my whole list really, I had a few beers in me when I made it and I tend to rant. But yeah I just really love the stuff I enjoy so it's annoying that there's not much of it.

@Dev that Gucci Vamp track is pretty sweet I'll check some out, thanks. I'm pretty familiar with HudMo's stuff and dig most of it quite a lot.

"list needs some yellow claw

jk you'd probably hate him. in all seriousness, need to dl that rustie album asap"

Do you have a track to recommend? I should clarify (in order to not scare off all recs) that I don't necessarily hate all of the output by artists like Baauer. BDDST (the last track here: https://soundcloud.com/doandroidsdance/sets/baauer-usb/) is actually pretty decent and way less offensive than most of the shit I hear because some work was actually put into more than just a big beat and stuttering hi-hats.

Most tracks seem to be content with just that, and then the artists will litter it with some annoying synth line that has no purpose or melody at all (see: harlem shake). A-Trak opened for Danny Brown when I saw him on Monday and he played a lot of trap, and it was some of the most uninspired and uninteresting music I've ever heard.

Thing is I like TNGHT but Hudson Mohawke's music really annoys me. Like the song Dev linked is probably my favourite of his but even then it gets tiresome. Spends too long with those goddamn horn blasts.

I like Butch Clancy - A Beautiful Mind about as good as that TNGHT EP but that's about all I care about from this genre. A Beautiful Mind has some real stinkers on it too but the title track and The Turn Up are good ones